Surveyor is hit with road ban

A DRINK-DRIVING Barlborough surveyor who travels 40,000 miles a year on business is reeling from a road ban.

Police followed a Volkswagen Golf that was being driven erratically in Whittington Moor, Chesterfield, at 9.40pm and stopped it in Whittington Hill.

Driver Stephen Taylor, 48, smelled of alcohol and was arrested after he failed a roadside breath test. Magistrates at Chesterfield heard he was two-and-a-half times over the legal limit.

Solicitor, David Lawson, said his client was a self-employed building control surveyor who travelled a lot to visit work sites and any ban would ‘severely curtail’ his ability to run his business.

“He will have to get on his bike to some extent and rely on others. He is desperate to continue his business,” said Mr Lawson, adding that Taylor employed his sister and a part-time worker. The court heard that the ban also affected his family. His mother needed to visit hospitals with a urology problem.

“He bitterly regrets the offence. He had been playing sport earlier in the day and then he watched a football match in a local hostelry. When he got in the car he felt okay but he knew he had had a drink,” said Mr Lawson, asking the bench to keep the ban as low as possible.

Taylor, of Manor Road, Barlborough, admitted drink-driving on 17th October. He had no previous convictions. He was fined £550, with £85 costs, and received a 20-month driving ban. It will be reduced to 15 months if he successfully completes a drink-driving rehabilitation course.

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